MLA 7th Edition Guide for References
The following are examples of Modern Language Association (MLA) formatting of print and online resources for a list of works cited. For complete explanations and more examples, see the MLA Handbook, shelved in the first floor reference area (call # PE1478.G52). All section numbers below refer to the 7th edition (2009) of the handbook.
The MLA documentation style uses in-text references, parenthetical citations in the text that refer to the alphabetical list of works cited at the end of the paper. The parenthetical citation appears within the text at the end of the section of cited text and includes the author's last name, followed by a page number, where available: (Anderson 7). There are many variations on this format depending on the circumstances and type of source being cited. For more examples, see the MLA Handbook, 7th edition, Chapter 6.
A Periodical Publication in an Online Database (Section 5.6.4)
Academic journal with no pagination:
Chan, Evans. "Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema." Postmodern Culture 10.3 (2000): n. pag. Project Muse. Web. 5 June 2008.
Academic journal with pagination:
Tolson, Nancy. "Making Books Available: The Role of Early Libraries, Librarians, and Booksellers in the Promotion of African American Children's Literature." African American Review 32.1 (1998): 9-16. JSTOR. Web. 5 June 2008.
Newspaper
Richardson, Lynda. "Minority Students Languish in Special Education System." New York Times 6 Apr. 1994, late ed.: A1+. Pt. 1 of a series, A Class Apart: Special Education in New York City. LexisNexis. Web. 15 Aug. 2007.
Magazine
Grossman, Lev. "Who's the Voice of this Generation?" Time 168.2 (July 10, 2006): 60. InfoTrac PowerSearch. Web. 3 Aug. 2009.
A Periodical Publication Accessed Directly from an Online Publisher (Section 5.6.3)
Academic journal with no pagination:
Shehan, Constance L., and Amanda B. Moras. "Deconstructing Laundry: Gendered Technologies and the Reluctant Redesign of Household Labor." Michigan Family Review 11 (2006): n. pag. Web. 8 Nov. 2007.
A Print Periodical Publication (Section 5.4)
Note: Print publications are cited much the same way as online publications except that you use "Print" as the medium and do not include an access date.
McEvoy, Dermot. "Little Books, Big Success." Publishers Weekly 30 Oct. 2006: 26-28. Print.
Piper, Andrew. "Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe and the Book of Everything." PMLA 121.1 (2006): 124-38. Print.
An Online Non-Periodical Resource (Section 5.6.2)
Note: include a URL if your instructor requires it or if your reader will need it to find the source you are citing. If you include a URL, give it immediately following the date of access, a period, and a space. Enclose the URL in angle brackets, and conclude with a period, as in <http://www.lib.montana.edu/>.
News Site
Quade, Alex. "Elite Team Rescues Troops behind Enemy Lines." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 19 Mar. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.
Web Encyclopedia Article
"de Kooning, Willem." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008. Web. 15 May 2008.
Web Site (with URL included)
Eaves, Morris, Robert Essick, and Joseph Viscomi, eds. The William Blake Archive. Lib. of Cong., 8 May 2008. Web. 15 May 2008. <http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/>.
Scanned Book Accessed on the Web
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, 1855. The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 12 Mar. 2007.
E-Book
Offord, Derek. Journeys to a Graveyard: Perceptions of Europe in Classical Russian Travel Writing. Dordrecht: Springer, 2005. Web.
A Print Non-Periodical Resource (Section 5.5)
Book by a Single Author (Section 5.5.2)
Franke, Damon. Modernist Heresies: British Literary History, 1883-1924. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2008. Print.
Book by Two or More Authors (Section 5.5.4)
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print.
Encyclopedia or Other Reference Book Article (Section 5.5.7)
Jödicke, Ansgar. "Alchemy." Religion Past and Present: Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion. Ed. Hans Dieter Betz, Don S. Browning, Bernd Janowski, and Eberhard Jüngel. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill, 2007. Print.
Book Chapter (Section 5.5.6)
Bordo, Susan. "The Moral Content of Nabokov's Lolita." Aesthetic Subjects. Ed. Pamela R. Matthews and David McWhirter. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2003. 125-52. Print.
Introduction, Preface, Forward, or Afterward (Section 5.5.7)
Borges, Jorge Luis. Foreword. Selected Poems, 1923-1967. By Borges. Ed. Norman Thomas Di Giovanni. New York: Delta-Dell, 1973. xv-xvi. Print.
Unpublished Dissertation (Section 5.5.25)
Kelly, Mary. "Factors Predicting Hospital Readmission of Normal Newborns." Diss. U of Michigan, 2001. Print.
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